Well, it’s about time I revisit my mentors. It helped, having a focus, making sure each week I was learning a little more about various choreographers, coming further into a point of focus with the vast web that is dance creation.
So first up, Jasmin Vardimon. You’re getting a double dose today, and I might just explain this upfront. I went to see Vardimon’s new work Freedom this past week, and her movement style reminds me distinctly of Garry Stewart’s movement style. Both from different sides of the world, different layers of experience and (perhaps) through dancer’s traveling, choreographic styles can build and be influenced without a conscious pathway.
Vardimon moved to the UK in 1997 and established her company: Jasmin Vardimon Company (initially Zbang). She began her initial dance training in Israel where she had been dancing with Kibbutz Dance Company, winning a British Council “On the Way to London” choreography award in 1995. Jasmin Vardimon Company now was seven notable works to their name, and still going strong. Popular with younger crowds, Vardimon has a strong physical choreographic style and an organic approach to creating work. Inspired by the things around her, it always heartens me to hear of a depth of research that occurs (not only physical) when approaching a subject.
The company’s newest work Freedom, explores whether freedom can be attained, and testing it can often result in defining what it is not. In small vignettes, this work is a collection of the testing of social, sexual and emotional freedom. Previous works have used inspiration from the concept of “home” (Home, 2012), the human capacity for survival (7734, 2010) and our justice system (Justitia). Tackling such big conceptual chunks may be considered very ambitious, but I applaud the nerve it takes to try to comprehend such monumental issues.
Now Garry Stewart, from all outward explanation has quite a different biography. Stewart initiated his dance training in his 20s, after shifting from his studies in social work. Studying first in Sydney, Australia, he then moved to Melbourne to study with the Australian Ballet School. Before instigating his career as a choreographer, he was lucky enough to dance with a number of Australian companies including: Australian Dance Theatre, Queensland Ballet and One Extra Company.
Beginning as a freelance choreographer, Stewart began creating work for companies such as Chunky Move and Sydney Dance Company, he also created work for a number of dance universities across the country. Whilst operating as a choreographer, Stewart completed his Bachelor of Arts in Communications at the University of Technology Sydney majoring in cultural theory and film, video and new media production. This information was able to later inform his choreographic output and create a strong direction for his work.
In 1998, Stewart started his company Thwackl where his second creation was to be the first manifestation of his later work Birdbrain. Now artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre, Stewart has created numerous works, won numerous awards and toured to international acclaim.
Stewart’s movement vocabulary, like Vardimon is very physical. My short secondment with this company found me significantly more muscled leaving that I was when I arrived… each day completing a class of contemporary or ballet, tumbling and then rep, develops a particular movement style – the tumbling a particular unique addition to this company. Not unlike Vardimon, I wonder where these tumbles originate from – passed through the dancers themselves, or from a greater source?
I envy both of these choreographers the way any hopeful envies those who succeed in their field. The commonalities between these choreographers however point out that choreographing has been a part of their career from very near it’s beginning. This propensity to create work fascinates me – is it just sheer guts needed to get your idea out there, tied in with the passion to dance, or is it the desperate need to say something. Ideas happen organically, but they just don’t drop out of nowhere if you’re not willing to look… I wonder at the connections between want, desire, and success…
Here’s a little sneak peak at some of the work of these choreographers if you are unfamiliar:
and